Adult show-and-tell comes to Bellingham library

Sunday

Feb 23, 2014 at 7:00 AM

By Lindsay CorcoranDaily News Staff

BELLINGHAM Ė The sight of the Dy Dee Doll box and clothes, purchased in the mid-1930s, still brings tears to the eyes of Franklin resident Ann Natter, who remembers playing with the doll and her friends as a child."Itís a wonder this survived," Natter said. "It was always out in the weather while I was playing house with my two friends and their dolls."Natterís antique doll box and clothes werenít the only items of interest at the Bellingham Public Library on Saturday, as a group of about 10 people gathered for the areaís first grown-up show-and-tell.Other items on display included a karate uniform signed by martial arts greats, a handmade violin and a program from when the movie "Gone With the Wind" was released.Local author and historian Marjorie Turner Hollman, a member of the Association of Personal Historians that is promoting the adult show-and-tell concept, organized Bellinghamís program. The trend started in New York City, but has spread to Australia, Canada and North Carolina."Itís a little bit of a different concept," Hollman explained. "Itís like what you did in elementary school, but we ask you to leave the gerbils at home."Attendees were invited to spend a few minutes talking about an item that meant something to them.Hollman also showed off an item of her own Ė a blue glass bottle that belonged to her great aunt, also known as "the woman who lives in her barn.""She buried these bottles all over her yard with just the bottoms showing, there were hundreds and hundreds of them," Hollman said. "I remember visiting her as a child and it was such a magical place."The director of the Bellingham library, Bernadette Rivard, shared a program from when "Gone With the Wind" was released about 75 years ago. She said it was her husbandís grandmotherís and it included a letter she wrote to obtain the movie tickets.Maude Dillingham of Bellingham showed a violin made by her father to look like a Stradivarius†and even played a short piece on it."He was self-taught," Dillingham said of her fatherís skill with instruments. "Before he worked on musical instruments, he worked on cars."Rocky Dirico, a Franklin native, shared a karate uniform he wore when he was on the Paul Mitchell National Karate Team. Dirico explained he has been a black belt for 42 years and has been teaching martial arts for nearly that long.Dirico has had his old uniform signed by many martial arts greats, including Chuck Norris and Martin Kove from the movie "Karate Kid.""Iíve tried to limit it to people whoíve made a difference in martial arts," Dirico said of his uniform.Rivard said the library will likely hold another grown-up show-and-tell event this spring.Contact Lindsay Corcoran at 508-634-7582 or lcorcoran@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @LacorcMDN.